Kenneth Nagy

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Since first coming to UCLA in 1971, Ken Nagy has engaged and inspired many graduate and undergraduate students through his vivid and memorable teaching style. One student evaluation of him stated, “(He) challenged students to think independently and not accept everything told to them. He planted the seeds of critical thinking in all of us.”

After earning his doctoral degree from UC Riverside, Nagy became an acting assistant professor. He was named a full professor in 1984 in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology. He teaches the popular courses Animal Physiology and Environmental Physiology, and is well known for his field course work in herpetology and the physiological ecology of desert animals. Much of his research is motivated by his curiosity about the ways used by animals to survive in their natural habitats. Currently, he and his students are studying the threatened desert tortoises of the Mojave Desert, but his research of both desert and nondesert animals has also taken him to Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Australia and Antarctica.

Nagy has been named a Fulbright Fellow three times. In 1999, he also received the Golden Tortoise Award for his work with desert tortoises. He says his greatest reward is being able to see the light of comprehension come on in a student’s eyes, which he calls “getting an ah-ha.”

His love of science and teaching is also apparent in his off-campus activities. Nagy is a merit badge counselor for the Boy Scouts, overseeing environmental science, mammalogy, and bugling badges, and he gives slide-illustrated talks to community groups. Nagy’s research is published widely, and he accepts requests to be interviewed or filmed for articles, educational videos or news programs, because according to Nagy, “These are also opportunities to teach.”